Steven Jackman leaves Teesside Crown Court with a coat over his head after he was given a suspended sentence for causing the death of Nathan Smith

A mother has forgiven the pizza delivery driver who hit and killed her seven-year-old son with his van while driving uninsured.

Steven Nigel Jackman, 23, cried in the dock at Teesside Crown Court as he was spared prison for causing the death of Nathan Smith.

Jackman formerly of Coronation Street, Carlin How, North Yorkshire, now living in Wokingham, was driving his Peugeot 206 van delivering pizzas when his vehicle struck the youngster in Boosbeck High Street, North Yorkshire reports the Gazette.

The boy from Lingdale had got away from his mum Kelly and ran into the road as they got off a bus, Teesside Crown Court heard on Thursday, April 23.

He died instantly on the dark country road near an unlit bus stop at about 6.45pm on November 15, 2013.

Plasterer Jackman was driving too fast in the circumstances, “towards the top end of the speed limit”, and not paying enough attention, the court was told.

On his fifth night of a part-time job, he paid “insufficient caution” as he approached the bus stop.

And he was not insured for business use. He was insured for other purposes and believed he was covered by his policy.

Nick Dry, prosecuting, said: “It seems that as Nathan got off the bus, the defendant was coming around the bend further up the road about 100m away, and accelerated towards the point of collision.

“It is the Crown’s case he was paying insufficient attention at that point to the fact of a bus at a bus stop and travelling too fast in all the circumstances.

“It’s accepted that having slipped the control of his mother and despite her desperate call for him to stop, Nathan did run into the road from behind the bus as it pulled away.

“This afforded the defendant insufficient time to avoid the collision given his position in the road at the time.

“But equally the Crown say it’s apparent that had he been travelling at a more appropriate speed and paying greater heed to the hazard ahead, then matters might not have transpired as they did.”

Jackman returned to the scene where people were trying to help Nathan and his traumatised mother.

“Tragically they could do nothing to save him,” added Mr Dry.

“He was pronounced dead at hospital a short time later.”

Flowers and notes left at the scene in Boosbeck where Nathan Smith was killed

In police interview, Jackman admitted he had not appreciated the bus was there at the time.

He heard a bang and realised he had hit something. He feared he had hit a child.

He said he had been driving at the speed limit and did not have time to react.

Jackman admitted causing death while driving uninsured.

He had no previous convictions and his only brush with the law had been a reprimand for shoplifting when he was 16.

Graham Smith, defending, said: “The circumstances of this very sad, sad case will remain with both families forever.”

He said the accident had affected Jackman, who wiped tears from his eyes during the sentencing hearing, though he said this paled in comparison to the devastation of the boy’s family.

He told the court: “He from the start has demonstrated a heartfelt and genuine remorse, and that remains today.”

He said Jackman came to court with nine eloquent references from friends and family.

“The statement from his mother identifies him as a fun-loving, outgoing and confident young man in the lead-up to the incident, and since he has became withdrawn and isolated.

“She talks of hearing him crying in the night in the months that followed, nightmares and the like.”

He told how Jackman had been signed off work with post-traumatic stress and had been behind the wheel “infrequently” since.

The barrister accepted Jackman might have been slightly over the 30mph limit, in any event too fast as he approached the bus.

He said reported conversations before the accident showed Jackman’s “genuine misunderstanding” about his insurance policy.

“These are a number of circumstances that came together on this very fateful night,” said Mr Smith.

"Nathan's mother has forgiven you"

Mrs Justice Laing told Jackman: “This is a very sad case where a young boy has lost his life. His future’s been taken away from him.

“I’ve read the statement of his mother. It’s very moving. She and her family have suffered very much.

“They’ve had to move home because the memories are so painful.

“And her statement is all the more impressive because she has forgiven you. She realises that you too have suffered.

“Nothing this court can do will bring Nathan back or heal the pain that Mrs Smith and her family feel every single day.”

She accepted Jackman genuinely believed he was covered by the car insurance, but had not checked his policy.

She said: “I have no doubt that your view of the road and of Nathan was hampered by the darkness, by his small stature, by the presence of the bus and by the glare from its headlights.

“These are the reasons why you should not have been driving as fast as you were.

“You are not at all to blame for the fact he ran out in front of the car. You probably didn’t see him at all.

“If you’d been driving more slowly you might not have hit him, and if you had, he might well have had a better chance of survival.

“It lasted no more than 10 seconds. You do accept that you were at fault to an extent.

“By approaching the bus stop at a speed which was not safe in the circumstances, you did cause Nathan Smith’s death to some degree.

“It is clear to me that you are indeed very sorry for this offence and for its consequences.”

She gave him an 18-week prison sentence suspended for two years with an 18-week tagged curfew between 7pm and 7am. Jackman was banned from driving for one year.

Nathan’s mum Kelly paid tribute to her son after his death, described him as a “beautiful, happy, cute little boy, who was always very full of life and loved by everyone.”